First image of Karl Urban as Judge Dredd

November 19, 2010 - By Jack

A concept artist working on the new film adaptation of Judge Dredd (seemingly titled Dredd at the moment) has posted what is apparently the first look at Karl Urban as the title character. You’re not missing much in the above pic (Ain’t It Cool News are hosting a ginormous version here), but hit the jump for more information about the film.

Well, firstly…it looks a bit big / clunky, doesn’t it? The picture of the suit was apparently snapped during rehearsals, but hopefully someone will realise that the helmet looks MODOK-sized soon. The image seemingly originated on 2000ADOnline. Kudos to AICN for the find.

Judge Dredd is a British sci-fi comic book series, set in a future where “Judges” in a violent city chase down criminals to arrest and / or execute them. So essentially, they go around kicking ass. As usual, if you want to know more, Wikipedia is your friend. The comic was previously made into a film in 1995 with Sylvester Stallone in the lead role – that adaptation has a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so I think the least said about it, the better.

Dredd is being directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point, Endgame), from a script by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go; author of The Beach). Duncan Jones (Moon) turned down an offer to direct the film, stating that he wanted to take it in a very different direction to Garland’s screenplay. Both Jones and John Wagner (creator of Judge Dredd, who is supervising the new movie) had good things to say about the current script though.

Apparently Dredd (as in the comics), will never take his helmet off. Will this be an issue for audiences who want to relate to a main character? This was one of the key issues standing in the way of a Halo movie.

Urban as Judge Dredd is joined by Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson, and the movie will see a 2012 release.

I’m not too familiar with Judge Dredd as a comic, and while Vantage Point was pretty good, I don’t think that’s enough for me to completely Judge (haha…) director Pete Travis on. Still, this could be good.